Likewise the two revelations sent to Joseph in dreams (Gen. 37) seem to be but one, the second being only a conformation of the first. There are other instances of prophecies being repeated: perhaps to strengthen the belief in them.

Great, very great, are my reasons, from what I have been told, to believe that the whole Scripture is to this day an unaccomplished prophecy, except probably a part of the first chapter; and that it has not been yet the good pleasure of the Almighty to send on this earth the first regenerate man, and to make him appear among us under the name, or in the philosophical degree, Adam, nor in any of the successive degrees in which I think he is mentioned and foretold in the Old Testament; but let them be ever so strong, I should have no objection to confess that I must have unaccountably misunderstood what I have heard, and that I am completely mistaken, if it could be demonstrated to me that the pretended traditions of the early denominated Christians can be reconciled with the Sacred Writings, and are thereby entitled to all credit. At present I cannot imagine how, for instance, the accounts that have been published of the death of the Apostles can be true; being so much, as they seem to be, in contradiction with the Gospel and the Epistles, from which it is incontestible that they are to witness the desolation of the Scripture Jerusalem, the last days, the end of the world, and the coming of the Son of Man in great glory. (St. Matt. 10. 23;-St. Luke, 21. 20, 27, 28, 31, 34, 36.) Should you meditate on Christ's words, such as they are in those chapters, I doubt not that preferring them, in spite of

the instructions of your early teachers, to the fanciful fables of the old ecclesiastical writers, you will be convinced that those who, understanding the Scriptures literally, have supposed and written that the Apostles suffered martyrdom, and died naturally in the first century, they have paid no attention to the Saviour's words; and have told, or repeated, downright stories, invented either by them or by others, in support of their erroneous system; erroneous, in my opinion, in its historical part; and, I am afraid, very imperfect in the moral from a misconception of the Gospel. At the same time I must say that, considering the state of gross ignorance in which this world was in their age, I believe that it was better adapted to it, than would have been a spiritual and higher system; such as might now prove acceptable to many religious and enlightened persons; perhaps even to those who having investigated, and compared with the Scriptures, the systems of the dif ferent sects, follow none, because they are not thoroughly satisfied with any, nor convinced that any accords completely with the Word of God.

Tell me, Theophila, is there any record in civil history, by which it may be shown that the awful prophecy in Joel has ever been fulfilled, as it is represented in Acts, 2. 17, 18, 19, 20? When have the foretold wonders been shown in heaven? When has the sun been turned into darkness, and the moon into blood? Is there the least admissible human proof that the promised Comforter, (John, 14 and 15, and 16) has been sent in person, more than seventeen centuries ago, to the Apostles and among mankind, and that he has reproved the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement? If that

third Divine Person has been on this earth, if he has taught all things to the Apostles, and has guided them into all truth, into the very spirit of truth that dwells in him in the same degree of holiness as in Christ; and if they have been preaching and expounding the Scripture, according to their mission, even unto the uttermost part of the earth (Acts, 1. 8), (as it has been shamefully imagined by ecclesiastical writers who have represented them as travelling in all directions, except America and the islands that were not known in their time), how is it that there exists still among us such a diversity of opinions, concerning several passages in the Sacred Writings: an evident proof, I dare say, that this world has not been as yet informed by men thoroughly acquainted with the truth, and that the Lord has not yet destroyed the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations (Isai. 25. 7); which I believe will be done away, when we shall be rightly instructed into Christ (2 Cor. 3. 14.)? In one of the religious meetings, some years ago, it was said that it is supposed that there are now on this globe 800,000,000 of inhabitants, and that only 175,000,000 may be reckoned as having heard of the Holy Scriptures. If we deduct from these 175,000,000 all the millions who do not know how to read, and all those who read without attention, and pay but little to the instructions which are given them; rather small, I think, would be the number of those who might be considered as having more than a superficial knowledge of the Bible; and if we should examine how much those whom we look upon as being conversant with it, are often perplexed and unable to satisfy inquirers, respecting many passages,

few indeed would be those who should be universally allowed to have penetrated deeply into its spirit, and to have a correct intelligence of it. Is it likely that the generality of this world would be still in such a state of ignorance, after seventeen centuries of preaching and writing upon it, if the true Light had himself, and through his Apostles, instructed our forefathers? I think I may doubt that he has; but I cannot presume to say positively that he has not: I believe it deserves to be inquired into, more earnestly than it seems to have been done. Before Copernicus all mankind thought that the sun went round the earth; and there are, perhaps, nine out of ten who still think that it does. Had not his opinion on the subject been investigated, I suppose all Europe would be mistaken as formerly on that point. How much more important for us to inquire whether the Old Jews and their successors have not been deceived by appearances concerning the Scriptures, and whether we are not equally in error!

Had the converted Jews received more intelligence of the Bible than their predecessors; had they perceived that it was possible that it had no literal meaning, such as that we attach to words, and that the way in which it was written was only a veil to which they ought not to adhere; and had they benefited by the New Tes tament, enough to reject totally the vulgar sense which their misled ancestors, who were acquainted only with the Old, had unfortunately followed, and which had prevented them from entering within the veil, they would have given no occasion to ill-disposed persons, the miserable slaves of the letter, no occasion to say: this is absurd, this inconsistent, this obscene, this unintelli

gible, &c. But when they, well-intentioned people, instead of proving to others, with the help of the New Testament, that the Scripture is the Divine Word, and ought not to be understood as the words of men; when they, though pious and great admirers of it, took it and explained it in the same sense as profane books, was it to be expected that unbelievers, misinformed by the interpretations of those who, in those times, were deemed great authorities, would feel for it all the reverence that is due to it, and would give up their objections to what they did not comprehend, and in which they were so much misinstructed? Were an able writer to undertake to show that the Sacred History is an infinitely higher Book than what it is generally taken for, and that it does not speak of such common actions as ours, neither of such things as those that are visible to us; and were he to succeed to convince mankind that it is an error to ascribe to it any vulgar meaning, then it is likely that all the detractions that are and cannot be grounded but on material and wrong notions, would be discontinued; as their publishers would perceive their deplorable mistake, and would see that it must be a folly, a very lamentable one, to suppose any inconsistency, any obscenity, any want of wisdom, in a Book emanated from the Deity, and containing everywhere such great instructions. They would learn also that by persisting in their presumptuous and misguided criticisms, they would only expose themselves to the deserved disapprobation of others: a risk which is not run by the humble, as the simplicity they are blessed with, prevents them from judging and condemning what is above their present comprehension. As long as reli